A Strong-Willed Caterpillar

"Now, before I continue, do you guys notice something about me?" I wave my pointy crescent rear for everyone to see. It takes them a while to notice.
"Moona, why don't you have legs?" a curious Polka-Dots asks.

"Well, I guess being able to fly kinda defeats the purpose of walking," I answer. "Of course when I was a baby, I couldn't even life one inch of my belly of the ground so naturally, I went through the second route: crawling. While rolling around is fun, is it pretty annoying having to spit out Moondust every five seconds. But I couldn't crawl like a normal baby since I don't have legs, so my only option is to use my arms."

I fly down to the ground to demonstrate how I did so. "I gripped the sandy ground…" I explained while doing the same on the dirt. "…and tugged on it as hard as I could to pull my body forwards. As I've never used my arms before, it was much harder than it looked!" I pretend to struggle to pull myself on the soil. "My body wouldn't move along as I wanted to. I tried again… and again… and again. I couldn't even move an inch. This went on for many nights. I kept trying and trying and… always the same. No matter how much strength I put in, my stubborn body would not move. All I could do is throw a little tantrum while waving my arms in the air as I failed," I facepalm.

"I was so frustrated and peeved that I went back to rolling. I almost completely gave up. I spent so much time trying and nothing good came out of it. Or... at least I thought so at first. From what I said before, every baby moves differently from each other. Now here's when the little paintbrush starts to shed its colors. Everything that a person learns is linked to his or her past experiences and crawling is no different, like how new colors are made from mixing old ones. One night, I noticed that by rolling in the Moondust, I was using my hip muscles to toss and turn my body. One night, I got an idea..." I wagged my tail end again. "I taught myself how to slither. I put my hips to work but instead of moving them sideways, I inched them a bit to the front while also using my arms to help. I kept practicing and practicing. It still took some time but finally, after aallll that, I did it!"

"Now that I can 'crawl'…" I said while making air quotes, "Well… that's basically what I spent all my time doing. Inside the pit, I squirmed and squirmed everywhere like a little caterpillar. I was basically making a long criss-cross wiggly line as I go. My first masterpiece, hee-hee. My strokes which showed me that what I did means something. Something important."

"But I didn't really focus on that at first. My attention turned to the grey edges of my hole. Ever since I was still teaching myself how to crawl, I've always wondered what could be on top of those walls. It got pretty boring spending all that time inside after all, especially with my new ability. So I made my move up the pit. Well, you don't know how many times I tumbled and tumbled back down. It was so annoying!"

"But then, a new beacon shined into my heart. Instead of giving up, like I did at first with my crawling, I kept trying. I realized that all the struggles I went through all these nights weren't all for nothing. I now have almost full control of my whole body and this also helped with my self-esteem. Night after night, I figured out new ways to help myself, like to bend my arms more or put my hands at specific spots on the wall."

"Eventually, after many more nights, I did it! You can imagine how happy I was. Well… if you were there, it doesn't look like much but as a baby, I felt like I just climbed the tallest mountain in the world! I raised my hands up in joy and… well I couldn't jump for joy so instead, I bopped my little head up and down like a happy sock puppet *giggles*. Once I was done, I turned my head to look around the new hidden area, even though to be honest, it was pretty much the same as in that pit, except that there were now more holes in the ground. Not very exciting to say the least but back then, all I cared about was that I now have more room to move around. My reward for all my effort: a whoooole new area to play in! I went on with my slithering and rolling across the flat grey desert, more echoes of laughter filled the vast grey land. It was like I was trying to hug the entire Moon out of happiness *giggles*. My arms and my belly have touched a huuge area, maybe even the entire Moon across my entire life so far. Yes, this is a night I will never forget… But little did I know that there is more in stock for me."

"What is it?" an eager Joe asked.

"Something… truly magical!" I said excitedly while hugging my wand. "As I kept moving for a few hours, I noticed that this grey land started to change.

"Change?" Roary asked. "How?"

"One word," I answered. "Illuuuuumination! The ground in front of me started to sparkle. There was glitter all over the land in front of me! A bright golden shape, seeming to play peek-a-boo with me was hiding behind the flat horizon in front of me. It, in fact, was the source. Everything around me became bright and clear, more so than I've ever seen before in my short life so far because of its mysterious yet wonderful rays of warmth and happiness! Soon, I was completely taken in by the light. As I looked around me, pretty much the entire land was coated in glitter. It was like a new starry sky had formed right below me…"

"I then noticed the Moondust on my body. As the light reflected off them, it made my body twinkle and glitter, showing my sparkles to their full glory. Overjoyed, I raised my arms up again and turned my head up: a big smile on my face. I simply just sat there and let myself be completely basked by this warm light: My shining golden medal!"

I wait for a while to reflect on what I just said.

"It's funny how we always try so hard to better ourselves. It's like we all have some sort of special gift inside us that we all have no clue about. Like our canvases are 'ready' somehow to be coated with a certain paint color or stroke. At first, I find it quite frustrating but later on, I realized that it would be pretty boring if we know everything right from the start. If that is the case, there wouldn't really be any point in doing pretty much anything for the matter. Me crawling out the pit wouldn't make me feel so proud and Blue's Clues wouldn't be as fun without that sense of 'mystery' and effort".

I turn to look at Blue. "That's why I made up the challenge for you to find your lock to your key. Do you see what I did there? It would be dull if I just showed you the box right away. By doing this, I got to test your character and make you play a very fun game! I also got to know how supportive all your friends are."

"Oh Moona, I got pretty sad when I thought I couldn't find it," Blue replies.

"Yes, Key told me all about it. But then, Joe comforted you." I turn to you. "You too! You were such a big help to Blue that night! Plus, later on, Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper made you some special cookies to celebrate you on that special night!"

"Ah yes! Those cook-keys! Haha! *drumroll*" Key jokes again.

"Haha! Yes, Key," I say. I turn to Blue again. "And would you say your gift is worth all your trouble?"

"Of course!" Blue exclaims. "Now I can talk to my friends much more easily… Oh…"

She is turning her head towards you.

"Hi, you!" she greets. "Gosh, I'm so sorry… I mean… storytime… the Moon… Moona… I forgot…"

"It's ok Blue," I tell her. "I've already welcomed our friend for you."

"Oh uh heh heh… thanks Moona," Blue responds.

"No problem!" I say. Oh yes, back to my story! My mission wasn't over yet! I still needed to find out what that sliver of light is..."

"Just a moment," Joe interrupts. He then scooches over a bit to leave a bit of space on our picnic rug. "Here, you can sit next to me!" he tells you.